Southgate Veterans Memorial Library

Southgate Curbside Service begins; Closure continues

On Tuesday, June 16th, the Southgate Veterans Memorial Library will begin offering curbside pickup of holds. The library remains closed to public access; computers, printing, faxing, & copying are all unavailable, and no meetings or events will be taking place. All returns should continue to be placed in the dropbox. Library access will remain unavailable until later this Summer, after all projects have been completed, and it is safe to open.

How curbside pickup works

On Tuesdays and Fridays, call the library 10am – 12:30pm to schedule pickup. Our phone number is 734-258-3002. You may also schedule by email; send your request to dpriest@southgate.lib.mi.us. Email requests should be made as early as possible, as later requests may not be received in time to be processed for pickup.
Pickup times are Tuesdays and Fridays, 1:30pm – 4pm, in half hour blocks. Choose which block of time you will come by for pickup. For example, 1:30pm – 2pm, or 3pm – 3:30pm.
Staff will check out your holds, place them in plastic bags, and set them aside for pickup. Only items that are already on hold will be available; staff will not have time to place new holds, or pull new requests off the shelves, on these days
During your scheduled block, drive up to the tent outside the library. Staff will have your bag(s) of holds waiting for you. Staff will be wearing masks and gloves. Your bag(s) can be placed in the front seat, in a trunk, or, if you would prefer, you may step out and retrieve them yourself.
Please limit yourself to no more than 10 items on hold at once.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, staff will be taking care of other tasks, preparing holds, shelving returns, etc. We encourage you to place holds yourself using the online catalog at https://catalog.tln.lib.mi.us, but if you need to call and place hold requests, you may on these days, 10am – 5pm, and we will help as best we can.
We ask for patience during this time. Staff is extremely limited, and may not be available to answer phone calls. There may be lines during pickup of holds, we will work hard to keep things moving along at a good pace. This is new territory for all of us, we may need to tweak how curbside service works; change pickup times, alter hold limits, etc., as we see how the process works.

Self-Isolation Sanity Savers

Get an updated Library Card Remotely

We are now offering the opportunity to sign up for a library card remotely! Any Southgate resident who does not have a card, or who needs to update an old card, can send us their information, and we will reply with everything you need to gain access to our digital collection. If you already have a card beginning with 29014, you should be set; this is for new cards and updates only.

To get a new or updated card number, send the following information to the Director, Don Priest, through email, with the subject heading "New Library Card".

First Name
Last Name
Address
Phone Number
Birthdate

Director Priest's Email address: dpriest@southgate.lib.mi.us

Once we are able to, we will enter your information into the system, and send you your card number and PIN. It may take a day or two, as staff is only in the building for a few hours a week. This card number will be good for 3 months. To extend its lifespan, and to retrieve the physical card, you will need to come in when we are open again, and provide proof of identity and address (drivers license is ideal). We'll fill in the rest of the details of your account, and you'll be set for the standard 3 years.

To find out more about our digital offerings, follow the link on the navigation bar for Ebooks & Eaudio, or see the next update below.

Stay home, and stay safe!

Extra Ebooks and More from Hoopla

Many of you may already make use of our ebooks and e-audiobooks. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Governor Whitmer’s shelter in place order, the Southgate Veterans Memorial Library is increasing the limit on checkouts through Hoopla. Normally, the limit is 3; for the months of April and May, we’re bumping it up to 15! Enjoy a wide variety of books, audiobooks, comics, movies, and music, all from the comfort and safety of home! No joke!

Also, through the month of May, Hoopla is providing access to a no charge, 1,000+ collection called Bonus Borrows, completely free to all subscribing libraries! You do still need a qualifying card (beginning with 29014) to gain access. To find the Bonus Borrows, check the Categories for the desired media type, it should show up in the Top Categories.

There has never been a better time to give Hoopla a shot. You can reach Hoopla (as well as our other digital offerings, also worth a look) on our Ebook & Eaudio page

We’re doing what we can to help people stay busy, and stay home. Be safe, everyone!

Summer Reading Program 2020 - LIVE EVENT

Join us on Thursday, July 2nd, at 2 pm, for Dinosaur Myths and Legends, presented by Paleo Joe! This presentation will take place as webinar using Zoom; use the link and password here to join in.

Meeting link:https://zoom.us/j/92142309420?pwd=a0dsaHBWVEY0cWxLeEYwakhaNDBpQT09
Password: 231467

Summer Reading Program 2020

The Southgate Veterans Memorial Library is glad to announce the beginning of Summer Reading Program 2020! The theme this year is Imagine Your Story. Please see below for more information. Beginning June 16th, bags for the reading program, including reading logs, can be picked up from the library Tuesdays & Fridays, 1:30pm – 4pm. No appointment necessary, just drive up to the tent and let staff know how many children will be participating!

Program Details Listed Below:

Welcome to the 2020 Summer Reading Program! Obviously, this year will be quite a bit different from previous programs, as in-person events and gatherings are slow to return. Thankfully, there are few better ways to pass the time than with a good book! Reading logs come with 50 stickers; for every 15 minutes you spend reading, or being read to, you can slap a sticker on there. Fill it up, and you’ll be able to come in for prizes once the library is open again!
We’ve also scheduled several virtual programs, to educate and entertain. These will be freely available to everyone who wants to participate. These may be either live performances, or previously recorded ones; for access information, check our Facebook page or our our website before each program.

All live events take place at 2pm

June 25th: The Lifecycle of the Honeybee, presented by Bees in the D. This program will be presented live using Zoom, and requires registration; please contact the director by email to sign up.

July 2nd: Dinosaur Myths and Legends, presented by Paleo Joe. This program will be presented live using Zoom.

July 6th – July 12th: Storytime with Dewey the Dragon, presented by Alex Thomas and Friends. This program will be a pre-recorded video available on Youtube, accessible all week long!

July 16th: Fossils of Michigan, presented by Paleo Joe. This program will be presented live using Zoom.

July 20th – July 26th: Virtual Animation Workshop, presented by Alex Thomas and Friends. This program will be a pre-recorded video on Youtube, available all week long

July 30th: Live streaming magic, presented by Baffling Bill. This program will be a presented live using Youtube.

Updates on programming, library re-opening, curbside pickup, and more can be found on our website or Facebook page, or you can call us at 734-258-3002 (please be patient, as staff is limited at this time, and may not be available to take your call).

Things To Do With Kids Who Are Stuck At Home

School's closed, libraries are closed, EVERYTHING is closed, and kids are going nuts? WE CAN HELP!

With at least 3 weeks before we can safely open again, we wanted to find ways to help parents keep their kids entertained and educated while out of school even when we can't see you in person! Here are some ideas you can use! We'll try to update this list as we locate new, high quality resources.

It's Spring, and while you should stay away from anyone outside your family as much as possible, there's still plenty of things you can do inside and out to have fun and keep your kids minds learning and growing! To get started, here's a Spring Bingo (or SPRINGO) card with some ideas!

If your kids complete a row, column, or diagonal they can claim one of our leftover Summer Game prizes when we re-open. Bonus points for anyone who can correctly tell Librarian Mike what each letter in SPRING on the card stands for!

While we lack the resources to do our OWN Virtual Storytime, there are many organizations making these available during these difficult times. One resources that's great for young kids, available for free at ANY TIME, is the SAG-AFTRA foundation'ss Storiline Online website. Famous actors read picture books aloud, using their talents, and the magic of online video, to bring the stories to life. This is an excellent resource for early literacy, and much better for kids than the average youtube video binge.

For more virtual storytimes, see this list for upcoming live events that popular children's book authors are volunteering their time with over the upcoming weeks. There's nothing better for early literacy than hearing stories read aloud!

Mo Willems, of "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Elephant and Piggie" (and other) fame, is offering Lunch Doodles to everyone, for free, nearly every day during this self-isolation period. Draw, doodle, and explore new ways of writing. Stretch your creative muscles!

The American Association of School Librarians as made a curated list of educational apps that are actually both fun and educational! A lot of apps out there claim to help kids learn, but many are lackluster at best. This list has all the best apps for teaching and learning that 2019 had to offer, with links to high quality websites and lists from 2018 available through their website.

Tumble Books has kindly given us FREE access to a wide selection of their eBooks and eAudiobooks for ALL AGES through August 31st! See the following list for links to various collections. This information will also be available on the eBooks page on this website.
MidAmerica Books has also opened up free access to hundreds of educational books and their child oriented ABDO Zoom research database!
Knowbuddy Resources, in partnership with publishers Amicus, Black Rabbit Books, Bookstaves and The Creative Company, is providing free unlimited access to hundreds of eBooks through their online virtual portal. These resources will be available to everyone until the end of May.

Here is the link and login credentials for accessing the free Knowbuddy Resources portal:

Platform: virtual.knowbuddyresources.com

User: info@knowbuddyresources.com

Password: KNOWBUDDY
Storytime Yoga with Stuffies: Grab your favorite stuffed animal and get ready for a yoga adventure!